UK Government plans to research impacts its policies have on food bank use

According to The Guardian, the UK Government is in the process of finalising plans to research the impacts its policies could be having on food bank use.

Responding to the news, Mary Anne MacLeod, Policy and Research Officer at A Menu for Change said: “It’s welcome news that the UK Government could be finally waking up to the fact that its policies are driving people to the doors of food banks.

“Government researchers won’t have to look far to find the existing evidence that the fundamental problem is one of low income. Benefit reforms, including the devastating roll out of Universal Credit, are unquestionably and directly linked to increased food bank use. Even those in work know it is not a route out of poverty, thanks to low wages and the proliferation of insecure contracts.

“The solutions are at Ministers’ fingertips: all that’s needed is the political will to enact them. Clearly, the UK Government must act urgently to end the benefit freeze and rethink the welfare reforms that are leaving so many people across the country reliant on charity handouts. It’s the only way of preventing food banks from becoming a permanent feature of our society.”